A Simple Date
by akari-hayashi
Summary: Ryoma liked Momoshiro and wanted to go on a private date with him, but everything started going against his expectations... (MomoRyo)


**A Simple Date**

**Rating**: PG13 (actually nothing much, just yaoi)

**Pairing**: MomoRyo, hints of TezuFuji

**A/N**: Woo... My second MomoRyo fic! PoT fics are so easy to write and the ideas just flow out into words. I'm so happy! But note that Ryoma is a bit OOC in this fic, Momo is ok though. Oh and I think there is some problem with the timeline. But enjoy anyway!

OH! I have set up a yahoo group especially for MomoRyo since I couldn't find any. Fans of PoT please join ok? :) And get your friends to join! I'm gonna post up my next MomoRyo fic there also. The content is... not too suitable to post on ffnet. -winkz- So if you wanna read it, please join. You can link to the group by going to my profile page and clicking on the homepage. I had some problems with the directory so the full URL is the only way to access. Please support!

Thanks to the people (Aku, A, Izumichan2, lunacy4ever) who reviewed "Never Let Go", you guys made me so happy! : )

**Disclaimer**: All characters belong to Konomi Takeshi, I'm just loaning them. See see, here's the IOU. Konomi Takeshi signed it, you know? Heh, kidding...

**Summary**: Ryoma liked Momoshiro and wanted to go on a private date with him, but everything started going against his expectations...

* * *

Echizen Ryoma was bored. It was the summer holidays, a time to play and relax, and he had completely nothing to do. So Ryoma was just lazing around the house, watching reruns of the Wimbleton, which he already knew the results. 

Tezuka-buchou had given them one week off to refresh, and Ryoma would have preferred to spend the time practicing some new tennis skills with Momoshiro. However, Momoshiro was stuck with summer tuition at this stupid tuition centre, and thus, Ryoma was stuck wih boring replays as well.

Oh wow, the top seed just won a set against some unseeded player, how astonishing. Ryoma thought drowsily, lying on the futon of his living room. He was going to doze off if something exciting did not happen soon.

"Ryoma-san, do you want some lemonade?" Nanako's gentle voice travelled into Ryoma's ears.

"Thanks." Ryoma gratefully sipped the cold drink Nanako had passed to him, enjoying the coolness left in his mouth.

"Why aren't you out with that senior of yours?"

"Momo-senpai has tuition, he can't spare the time." Ryoma grumbled.

Noticing that Ryoma was not practically engrossed in the match and that nobody else was at home, Nanako realised that it was the best time to ask Ryoma something that was on her mind for quite a while.

"Ne... Ryoma-san?" She prompted shyly.

"Ya?"

"Can I ask you a serious question?"

"Sure." Ryoma frowned at the change in mood of his cousin but thought nothing much of it.

"That senior of yours, Momoshiro-kun... Do you like him?"

Ryoma immediately spitted out his lemonade upon hearing the blunt question. A shade of crimson surfaced on his cheeks and he mumbled, "How did..."

"There were some photos of you and Momoshiro-kun in your room so I thought..."

"How can you go into my room without my permisson?!" Ryoma scolded. He wanted privacy and did not like the idea of people entering his room without him knowing. What if it was his father who saw the photos! Gosh, he could not imagine the consequences!

"I'm sorry Ryoma-san! I was just cleaning up your room. But it's not only the photos. I noticed that you always seemed very happy when talking about Momoshiro-kun. You never acted that way before, so I figured that he is obviously someone very special to you."

"Ummm.... I don't really know myself..." Ryoma muttered with a blush. Nanako was right. He never behaved this way before, nor did he ever had such strong feelings for someone. All it took was a phone call from Momoshiro, or a smile from the senior to give him strange butterfly feelings in his stomach. And the photos...

Fuji had taken pictures of them one fine day, during practice time (Ryoma had no idea why Tezuka never diasgreed), and happily developed photos for him as a present. Ryoma naturally brought them back and framed them up, placing them on his desk. The photos felt so right there. And Ryoma would wake up happily each morning to the grin of Momoshiro. Sometimes, he even found himself zoning out, just looking at the photos.

However, was such feelings love? Ryoma heard enough stories from his father to know what love is, but he had never felt it before. So how did he know this is it? Momo-senpai was very important to him as a friend and Ryoma definitely want it to go one step further. As for Momoshiro, Ryoma knew his senior had some feelings for him as well, judging from some of the things he did for him. But, would such feelings complicate things between the two of them?

Nanako smiled at the puzzled look on Ryoma's face. She was right. Ryoma had fallen for Momoshiro. It was pretty obvious, for many times, she found her dear cousin behaving dreamily, lovesick even. All because of Momoshiro. She did not partiularly support a relationship between two guys but if this made Ryoma happy, she was ok with it.

Momoshiro had stayed for dinner one evening, and the sparkle in Ryoma's eyes was amazing. Ryoma probably did not even realize how strong his feelings were.

"So... Ryoma-san, are you going to tell him?" Nanako asked.

"Huh? I... He... I don't even know how I feel about Momo-senpai..." Ryoma was genuinely embarassed at his cousin's onslaught of questions. He did not how to react in situations like this.

"Everyone can see that you are concerned about Momoshiro-kun, Ryoma-san. And I think you should tell him how you feel. Don't worry, he won't reject you. I have faith in him and you." Nanako was not just comforting Ryoma. She really was confident that Momoshiro would return Ryoma's feelings. Like how she noticed Ryoma's feelings towards Momoshiro, she also realized that Momoshiro was very fond of her cousin as well. Otherwise, why would he continue to be around Ryoma? Ryoma was not an easy person to get along with since he was not particularly friendly or sociable.

"You think so? Wait a minute, when you mean everyone can see that I like Momo-senpai, does that mean my dad...! Oh shit..."

"Haha, don't worry Ryoma-san. Ojisan is pretty blind at times. I don't think he will ever find out."

"Good." Ryoma sighed in relief. Nanjiroh would go mad if he found out that his son had a crush on his senior.

"So, when are you going to tell him?" Nanako questioned curiously.

"I... I never thought that far."

"Why don't you ask him out for movies? I know that there is a new movie about tennis screening now. You two can then have dinner after which you tell him about your feelings."

"Hmm... Maybe I should." Ryoma smirked. Better to confront Momoshiro than wasting time at home. Since he knew Momoshiro did not hate him, if all goes well, they could have a happy ending after all.

Checking the clock, Ryoma realized that Momoshiro's tuition lesson has ended just ten minutes ago so this was a good time to call him and ask about the date. Ryoma quickly went to the phone and dialled the number for his senior's mobile phone.

"Momo here!"

"Momo-senpai, this is Echizen."

"Ah, what's up?"

"I... I was just wondering whether you are free anyday this week? I heard from Nanako that there is a new movie about tennis showing now and was wondering whether you want to watch it with me..." Ryoma was so glad that Momomshiro was not beside him now, otherwise he would have seen the blush on his face.

"Oh right, I heard about that show too! Seems like not a bad idea. In fact, my tuition class is cancelled tomorrow so why don't we meet tomorrow afternoon outside the cinema?"

"Fine with me, see you tomorrow then."

"Hai. I call you tonight to confirm the time. Bye!"

The moment he put down the phone, Ryoma almost wanted to shout in joy! Everything seemed to be going so well, even Heaven seemed to be helping him. Ryoma was about to walk up the stairs to his room when he suddenly noticed a shadow near the bathroom.

"Nanako! Are you eavesdropping on me?!"

"Sumimasen Ryoma-san! I was just concerned! I'll go bring you some more lemonade." Nanako apologised profusely with slight embarassment and scurried back to the kitchen.

Ryoma sighed. At least he got to enjoy nice lemonade.

---

Ryoma was stumped. He woke up this morning, looking out of his window at a beautiful sunrise. Birds were chirping, the air was fresh and there was a light breeze blowing. Then he went out to his yard for some tennis practice. Everything seemed to be fine, when it just happened. All the bad luck started downpouring on him. And it was a real downpour.

Rain fell from the sky all of a sudden, while Ryoma was still in the yard. He was soaked completely, cold and wet on a unlikely summer day. Beside that, his father decided to spend the whole of breakfast talking to him about the supposedly attractive physical assets of the girls in his many magazines. Ryoma was not even interested! However, he had no choice but to sit and listen to the 'lecture' which stretched on till late morning, just before lunch.

Just when Ryoma thought his luck would get better, it only got worse. He had no clothes to wear.

Ryoma was standing in front of his wardrobe, staring wide-mouthed at an array of tennis attire and school uniforms. Oh, plus his track pants. However, there was nothing he could wear to the cinema! Ryoma was not very concerned about what he wear in the first place, so he had a limited number of streetwear, preferring to invest in tennis attire instead. But, his mother had decided to wash all of his streetwear all of a sudden and now, he was stuck with tennis clothes for a date.

Ryoma laid down hopelessly on his bed, as Karupin pawed over to his master. The young teen stroked the fur of his beloved cat, frowning, "What should I do Karupin? This is such an important day and I have no clothes to wear!"

"Ryoma-san!"

"Ya come in."

"Ryoma-san, why aren't you leaving for your date? It's going to be two soon, shouldn't you be setting off? Why are you still lying there? Are you feeling okay?" Nanako queried worriedly.

"No I'm not okay. I have no clothes to wear."

"Oh..." Nanako smiled, knowing the exact reason why her dear cousin wanted to look nice. It was such an important day for him. So she must do all she could to help him. "Ryoma-san, why don't you look at some of my clothes and see whether there is any piece you like? I am sure we can find something that fits. I do have some t-shirts but maybe you just have to wear your tennis shorts."

Ryoma gave Nanako a hopeful look, then followed Nanako back to her room. Looking at Nanako's wardrobe though, his heart sunk again. Nanako's clothes were either too girly or too big for him. However, there was not much time for him to think. Ryoma finally settled on a light blue tee that still looked too big on him and dashed out of the house.

At least the rain has stopped. It could not get worse, could it?

---

Staring at the group of people in front of him, Ryoma cursed his luck. Why didn't he lose some matches? He must have used up ALL of his luck in order to win and thus, bad luck was starting to possess him.

It was supposed to be a simple private date for him and Momoshiro, but coming towards him was not only his beloved Momo-senpai but the whole of Seigaku varsity team, his freshmen friends AND the two irritating girls. Horio, Sakuno, Eiji, Oishi, Kawamura, Kaidoh, Fuji, even Tezuka was there. Ryoma immediately wanted to faint.

"Hi Ryoma!" "Hello Prince Ryoma!" The girls and his fellow freshmen ran over to him with big smiles on their faces. Obviously, they were very excited about the new movie. But for Ryoma it was not. With everything going in the wrong direction, it was practically impossible to lift his spirts.

"Nyaa Ochibi looks so cute today! Isn't he cute, Oishi?" Eiji bounced over to Ryoma, patting him on his head.

The vice-captain smiled at his doubles partner, then looked back at Ryoma. "Eiji is right. It's good to see you wearing something different. I'm sure everybody will agree."

Despite nods from all the people around him, Ryoma just found himself frowning even more. He did not need to hear all his friends praising him, he was only concerned about how one person thought.

"Hey Echizen, are you all right? You don't look too happy." Momoshiro edged over to Ryoma, a worried look on his face.

"It's ok..." Ryoma did not want to upset Momoshiro and thus tried to smile. "Umm... Why is everybody here? I thought I only asked you out for the movie?"

"Oh ya, this is what happened..."

---Yesterday---

Momoshiro happily hung up the phone, a wide grin on his face. Ryoma just asked him out for a date! Miracles do happen!

"What are you so happy about, Momo?"

"I'm going to see a movie with Echizen tomorrow! And... Oh, Fuji-senpai! Tezuka-buchou! Why are you here?" Momoshiro was too elated and did not even notice Fuji and Tezuka standing behind him all along.

"You may not notice, but we are in the same tuition school as you, Momo." Fuji smiled and Momoshiro seatdropped. With the brains of those two, they did not even need to study to get full marks. And if they need tuition, did that not mean Momoshiro must have tuition 24 hours a day?

"What is this about movie and Echizen?" Tezuka asked in a stern voice.

"Err... Echizen and I are going to watch that new movie The Tennis Player tommorow." Momoshiro grinned, thinking how Tezuka is always so serious.

"Oh, that movie seems nice. We had planned on watching it, didn't we Tezuka?" Fuji nudged the taller teen beside him, smiling as usual. However, there was just something sneaky beneath that smile.

"Hn."

"Why don't we join you and Ryoma tomorrow, Momo?"

"Ah... But..." Momoshiro protested immediately. 'Echizen would not be too happy about this...'

"Why, you don't welcome us?" A slight frown surfaced on Fuji's face and Tezuka looked like the whole of Seigaku team just lost every single one of their matches.

"No no, just that..."

"Then it's settled then. We meet at the subway station before going to the cinema. It'll be a big surprise for Ryoma. And I think I'll go ask the rest about it too. This is a great chance for us to mingle. Give me a call when you fix a time. See you tommorow!" Fuji happily led Tezuka away, leaving Momoshiro standing rooted to the ground.

---Back to Today---

"That's about it. I'm so sorry Echizen but it's okay with you right?" Momoshiro apologized sincerely. He knew Echizen was upset, he could see it on his face. But what choice did he have? Fuji AND Tezuka would kill him if he did not let them come along.

"What choice do I have?" Ryoma turned to stare at Fuji who only gave him a innocent smile. Though Ryoma was positive there was a evil glint at the side of Fuji's eyes. Fuji was a sadist and Ryoma just knew that the tennis genius enjoyed sabotaging people.

"Let's just go Momo-senpai." Ryoma pulled Momoshiro towards the ticket counter, purposely ignoring the rest of the people. Since he could not chase them away, the least he could do was to treat them as invisible.

"Wait for me Prince Ryoma!" Tomo-chan shouted, as the whole group followed Ryoma and Momoshiro in.

---

"I'm sorry but we don't have enough tickets for all of you. We only have tickets at seperate areas and not in one big group. Will you like to get that?" The ticket salesgirl asked the group politely, as Horio boasted to the other freshmen non-stop about the number of movies he had seen in that month alone.

Finally his luck was getting better, Ryoma thought. Now they did not have to sit in one big group, and there probably were couple seats for him and Momoshiro. He could then take that chance to tell Momoshiro about his feelings.

"We will take that." Ryoma said in a hurry, hoping the others would not object. As the girl handed out the tickets, Fuji suddenly took the whole stack of tickets and handed a batch to Ryoma.

"Here, you can sit with the girls. Momo can sit with you too I guess." Fuji then continued to pass the tickets to the others. "The freshmen shall sit together. Oishi, Eiji, Kawamura, Kaidoh and Inui can take the five seater. Tezuka and I just have to take the couple seat." Fuji smiled, pleased of the way he distributed the seats. Everyone immediately sweatdropped while Ryoma was fuming with anger. Momoshiro only shrugged his shoulders, he too could do nothing about Fuji.

Ryoma was pissed. Fuji ruined his plans, again! He felt like punching his senior on the face. Now he did not even have a chance to speak to Momoshiro privately.

Momoshiro messed up Ryoma's hair fondly, suggesting, "I go buy some popcorn okay?" Ryoma nodded, accepting that his date was all ruined. He could only try to make the best out of it.

---

Ryoma glared at Fuji and Tezuka sitting together. Nobody was there to disturb them and Fuji was obviously very proud of his own coordination skills. 'Just great. Fuji-senpai gets to cuddle with Tezuka-buchou while I'm stuck with this.'

Ryoma looked at Sakuno sitting beside him and angrily sat down, while warning, "Sakuno, you all enjoy the show and don't bother about me."

"But... Ryoma..." Sakuno softly questioned, to be interuppted by Ryoma. "Just don't disturb Momo-senpai and me ok?"

"Yes Ryoma." The plaited hair girl nodded gloomly and kept quiet.

Ryoma leaned in closer to Momoshiro, enjoying the sweet honey on the popcorn and the warmth of his senior's shoulders. Momoshiro started talking to him about a rising tennis player he saw in this magazine and Ryoma happily chatted along with him. At least this was still part of his plan. However, the movie soon started rolling and Ryoma found no further chance to talk to Momoshiro.

---

It was nearly 5pm when the movie ended. Everybody was hungry and pizza seemed to be the best choice. But that was definitely worse than watching the movie. Ryoma was not even seated with Momoshiro! Everybody just crowded into the restaurant and Ryoma ended up sitting beside Horio and Kaidoh, Momoshiro was three seats away from him.

Everyone was happily discussing the movie, while Ryoma just poked his fork at the pizza, looking enviously at Momoshiro and Eiji who were in a rather heated argument about this particular move the protagonist made. However, they soon ended up laughing about a mistake move that same tennis player made.

This whole date is a big mess, Ryoma thought gloomily. Everything that could gone wrong had gone wrong. He would just have to find another excuse to ask Momoshiro out and confess to him his feelings.

Suddenly, at this point in time, Momoshiro's mobile phone rang. Ryoma watched curiously as Momoshiro excused himself to talk on the phone. He also observed in curiosity when Momoshiro returned to the table, an interesting look on his face. Momoshiro was obviously exuberant about something and turned to give Ryoma a big grin.

Ryoma immediately concentrated on eating his pizza, trying to hide his blush. Momoshiro was just too irresistible to him and his carefree grins always made Ryoma liked him more.

'I wonder who called to make Momo-senpai so happy?'

After more pizza, pointless chit-chat and fooling around, dinner finally ended at six and the group of over ten people proceeded to the subway station. Ryoma dragged his tired body out of the restaurant, swearing that he would not go for group outings anymore. He did not do much but hearing so many people talked at one go made him exhausted. Furthermore, Sakuno's friend kept pestering him, asking about ridiculous stuff like 'What bath foam do you use? Do you have any favourite pen colour? What about your favourite brand of cat food?'. He was so tired he even forgot to be angry about his perfect date being ruined. He was also so tuned out from the world he did not notice Momoshiro's amused look at him.

Just as Ryoma was about to get down at his stop, Momoshiro grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the train. "I'll send you home Echizen. Bye guys!" And the door chose to close at that point, ignoring wide-eyed passengers inside.

"Momo-senpai?"

"Let's go!" Momoshiro pulled the younger teen, happily humming a nameless tune to himself.

---

Ryoma thought Momoshiro had something important to say to him, but Momoshiro honestly seemed like he just wanted to send Ryoma home, plain and simple. Well, Momoshiro bought him a ice-cream, and they complained about some technical flaws in the movie, but those were not very important. They could wait till another day isn't it?

It was a few more houses before Ryoma reached his house and Momoshiro suddenly stopped his tracks. He turned towards Ryoma, holding him by both of his shoulders.

"You have something to confess don't you Echizen?" Momoshiro asked cheekily with a grin.

"How do you..." Ryoma did not managed to finish his question before Momoshiro silenced him with a passionate kiss.

Ryoma's eyes widened in shock, he could not believe it! What was Momoshiro doing?! Of course, he wanted this all along but this was still something that did not happen everyday. There should be a reason why Momoshiro was kissing him and why Momoshiro knew he wanted to confess. However, Ryoma soon realized that deep thinking was probably not effective during a kiss. The intoxicating sensation of Momoshiro's lips against his flooded all his senses, making him unable to think of anything coherent. Finally, Ryoma decided to close his eyes, leaning his body closer to the one man he loved.

Their kiss broke off a few minutes later, each panting slightly due to lack of breath. Eyes of gold and purple met in fondness, admiring the sight of the special one in front of them. Silence lingered in the air surrounding them, but it was filled with amazement and adoration.

Momoshiro finally broke the silence. Licking his lips, he commented, "Yum. Cookies and cream."

Ryoma faked a frown and knocked Momoshiro on the head.

"Hey, you could turn me stupid with that you know? You don't want a stupid boyfriend do you?" Momoshiro tightened his hug, attempting to choke Ryoma breathless.

"Well, then before you turn stupid, can you please tell me how did you find out I was going to confess?" Ryoma pushed Momoshiro away and stood up straight, demanding the truth.

"All thanks to your cousin. She was the one who called me just now in the restaurant. She thought we were having a romantic date and wanted to know whether you will be back for dinner. And she told me everything after that."

'Nanako must have peeped at Momo-senpai's number when I called him yesterday. Meddlesome.' Ryoma thought, but deep down he was glad that Nanako called Momoshiro. It made things so much better.

"I'm so glad to see you smile Echizen. Do you know how worried I was to see you frowning the whole day? You were pretty upset over the guys joining us huh?"

"Of course, Fuji-senpai ruined all my plans. I will never forgive him." Ryoma pouted and held on to Momoshiro's arm as they walked the rest of the way home. "And you too, Momo-senpai. Don't give in to Fuji-senpai next time okay?"

"I tried but you know how Fuji-senpai is. Man, he is such a sadist and everybody's scared of him. And you can never imagine the look Tezuka-buchou gave me when I tried to reject Fuji-senpai. Fuji-senpai must have set a voodoo curse on Buchou!" Momoshiro proclaimed, imitating how fierce Tezuka looked. This earned a rare laugh from Ryoma.

They eventually arrived at Ryoma's house. Just as Ryoma was about to lock the gate of his house, he tiptoed to give a light peck on Momoshiro's right cheek.

"Thanks Momo-senpai. Though today is a bit haywired, I still enjoyed myself. At least part of it."

Momoshiro smiled back at him and gave him a thumbs up. Ryoma locked the gate and turned towards his door. At this moment, Momoshiro called him back.

"Hey Ryoma."

"I love you too." Momoshiro grinned. And Ryoma couldn't help but grinned in return.

This date had turned out pretty well after all.

* * *

**A/N**: How is it? As usual, **C&C heavily appreciated**. I need them to feed my brain juices in order to write more! So flood me with them! This fic I wrote it in a rush but I thought it was better towards the back. And I wanted to clear it off my mind so that I can start on another two fics with a more seductive Ryoma. Heh heh. ; ) 

July 2004


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